The Churn: Creating The Right Sales Team BY MARK NEELY
sales goals and don’t inspire any confidence that they will get to where you need them to be? The second group may be good candidates for train- ing. The third group may be good candidates for replace- ment. If you agree, why are you holding on to the reps in group 3? Often, we are reluctant to fire a sales rep for any number of reasons. List the sales reps that you think fall into the third cat- egory, then describe the reasons you have not already let them go. Very importantly, trust your intuition. What does your gut tell you about each rep you manage? • _________________________________________ __________________________________________ • _________________________________________ __________________________________________ • _________________________________________ __________________________________________ • _________________________________________ __________________________________________ Are you worried that, if you fire a sales rep, he/she will take all their accounts with them? List their top five accounts: • __________________________________________ • __________________________________________ • __________________________________________ • __________________________________________ • __________________________________________
It is important to have a detailed, objective and accurate assessment of the reps you have hired. From the feed- back I have gotten over the past 30 years, buyers think that only around 10-20 percent of the sales people who call on them are top notch. Top notch, by their description, means a sales rep that is familiar with the customer’s busi- ness goals and challenges, knows his own company and company’s products deeply - including its strengths and weaknesses - is easy to communicate with and is reliable and trustworthy. I have often asked sales reps over the past 30 years if they think they perform their jobs to the level buyers have described above. 100 percent say that they do. So, buy- ers think that roughly 15 percent of the sales people they deal with are top notch while 100 percent of sales people self-assess themselves to be part of that 15 percent. How many of your sales reps would you say are top notch – both as they might be described by their custom- ers as well as relative to sales performance as measured by your company’s management? How many of your sales reps justify their cost but aren’t growing the way you’d like them to? How many of your sales reps continue to miss their
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MARK NEELY Training and Consulting Services
■ Mark has over 25 years experience delivering Sales and Negotiation Training to the Corrugated Packaging Industry ■ Using a 360º approach to developing both External as well as Internal relationships, Mark will help your whole team work together to expand your customer base, create closer ties between departments and build profits ■ Mark specializes in Customized Training Programs and Consulting Services that are created by matching your company’s capabilities to the goals you have set
■ Prospecting and Leads Generation ■ Trust Building and Di erentiation ■ Sales Results Measurement TRAINING TOPIC EXAMPLES
■ Sales Management ■ Building Cooperative and Collaborative Teams ■ On-boarding of New Sales Reps CONSULTING SERVICES
and Accountability ■ Negotiating Skills
310-346-5476 markneely5476@gmail.com ■ www.markneelyseminars.com
20 June 8, 2026
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